Washington, DC (February 13, 2019) - Today, Jake Braun, co-founder of the Voting Village at DEF CON -- the world’s largest and longest running hacker conference -- testified before the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee about the cybersecurity threats facing our nation’s elections infrastructure. Citing DEF CON’s own groundbreaking research that it has conducted over the last two years in the aftermath of the Russian hacking during the 2016 elections, Braun’s testimony represented one of the first times DEF CON was invited to play a prominent role in informing and educating Washington lawmakers on issues of national security.

The testimony also represented a first foray into Washington for the University of Chicago’s Cyber Policy Initiative (CPI), launched last year at DEF CON 26 and currently led by Braun, who serves as its Executive Director. Housed within the Harris School at the University of Chicago, CPI serves as a forum through which hackers, technologists, academics, and the cyber research community can engage policy makers at all levels of government to strengthen our voting systems and our democracy.

“It’s an honor to be here on the Hill wearing both hats today,” said Braun. “Over the last two years, DEF CON has done cutting-edge research to expose and elevate the vulnerabilities in our voting systems -- and now CPI is playing a critical translator role, taking findings out of the ‘hacker’ world and explaining threats and solutions to lawmakers in policy terms, helping to tackle what’s become one of the biggest national security concerns of our time.”

In addition to highlighting the link between national security and protection of our nation’s election infrastructure, Braun highlighted specific vulnerabilities found by the DEF CON Voting Village demonstration, which represented the first public, third-party security assessment of voting machines.

Braun also added, “The attacks on our election infrastructure are not solely an election administration nuisance but rather a national security threat,” said Braun. “This is about our national security apparatus marshalling its resources to do what our nation expects it to do, which is protect our country from existential threats to the United States.”

The hearing, called by Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), sought to kick-off debate on H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019. Braun was joined by notable election leaders including California Secretary of State Alex Padilla; former Cook County, Illinois, Director of Elections Noah Praetz; Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill; Christopher C. Krebs, Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security; and Thomas Hicks, Chairman, U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

June 28, 2018 (Singapore) - This week, Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) was proud to announce that CEO Jake Braun presented the 7th Annual International Conference on Law, Regulations, and Public Policy (LRPP) in Singapore. Hosted by the Global Science & Technology Forum (GTSF), the conference brings together public sector leaders from around the world to discuss the latest developments in legal, policy, and regulatory space.

Bruan’s presentation featured a discussion on the ground-breaking “Voting Machine Hacker Village” demonstration at last year’s DEFCON -- the largest, longest running hacker conference in the world. Coming at a time when intelligence and news was emerging about Russian-backed attempts to hack U.S. voting infrastructure during the 2016 election, the DEFCON Voting Village sought to serve as an awareness-building opportunity. The Village assembled more than 25 pieces of election equipment including voting machines and pollbooks still widely used in U.S. elections today and made them accessible to thousands of hackers.

Following on the Voting Village demonstration, Braun and several other Village organizers co-authored an award-winning report, detailing the Voting Village findings. The report can be accessed here.

In presenting this report at the LRPP 2018 Conference, Braun furthered his efforts to raise awareness about the severity and pervasiveness of cyber threats facing not only the U.S. but also democracies around the world.

“Nefarious cyber actors, including but not limited to Russia, know no boundaries,” said Braun. “What the DEFCON Voting Village revealed last year is that this is election security a global problem that will continue to persist. We have to work together, across all nations, in the cyber, public policy and legal arena to make our elections more secure. LRPP gives one forum to start and continue this important conversation.”

The Voting Village is slated to run again at this year’s DEFCON, August 9-12, 2018, hosted annually in Las Vegas.

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About CGA

Cambridge Global Advisors is a strategic advisory services firm with deep expertise at the global, national, state and local levels. CGA assists clients in the management, development, and implementation of their programs, practices, and policies – with a special emphasis on homeland and cybersecurity. CGA works with government, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies to provide consulting and project management services as well as public diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and communications. To learn more, visit www.cambridgeglobal.com or follow on Twitter at @camb_global

Former DHS Intel Leader Raises Information Sharing Issues Critical to the Work of U.S. Intelligence & Law Enforcement Community

Anaheim, CA (April 9, 2018) Today, Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) was proud to announce that Principal Francis X. Taylor, former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, provided keynote remarks at the 2018 International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA)/Law Enforcement Intelligence Units (LEIU) conference. The annual joint IALEIA/LEIU gathering brings together hundreds of information analysts, operators and law enforcement professionals for training and discussion on the nation’s most pressing homeland security threats.

Focusing on a theme of enhanced information sharing and technologies that promote “getting information to the point of attack” to enable better decision making, Mr. Taylor’s speech raised several top-of-mind incidents including the tragic Parkland, Florida school shooting, cyberattacks to U.S. critical infrastructure and the migration crisis putting pressure on European partners.

“This audience represents the tireless set of professionals keeping us safe on the home front, but it’s not enough for them to understand and communicate within their own communities effectively,” commented Taylor. “Today’s threats – such as terrorism acts, nation-state interference, criminal activities, or even rouge cyberattacks – often originate outside of the U.S. Events in any part of the world can impact any local jurisdiction in the bat of an eye. That’s which is why national/international enhanced information sharing and technologies like artificial intelligence, innovative data aggregation tools represent the future of homeland security.”

The IALEIA/LEIU conference kicked off on Monday, April 9 and will run through the week, featuring panels, plenary sessions and training opportunities. Full remarks from Mr. Taylor’s speech will be available online following Monday’s speech at

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About CGACambridge Global Advisors is a strategic advisory services firm with deep expertise at the global, national, state and local levels – with a special emphasis on homeland and cybersecurity. CGA works with government, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies to provide consulting and project management services as well as public diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and communications. To learn more, visit www.cambridgeglobal.com or follow on Twitter at @camb_global

March 6, 2018 (Washington, DC) – This past month CEO of Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) Jake Braun was named recipient of three awards for his work in raising awareness around cyber threats facing U.S. democracy and election infrastructure, such as those attempted by Russia during the 2016 elections.

One of the cyber industry’s most coveted programs, the 2018 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards annually honor individuals and companies that demonstrate leadership in information security. With over 400 entries, Braun was nominated and won respective honors in all categories for which he was nominated:

The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards specifically recognized Braun’s work with DEFCON – the world’s largest, longest-running hacker conference – where Braun led the creation of DEFCON’s first-ever Voting Machine Hacking Village. The Village assembled more than 25 pieces of election equipment including voting machines and pollbooks still widely used in U.S. elections today and made them accessible to thousands of hackers who were encouraged to test the technology and expose cyber vulnerabilities for educational purposes.

Commenting on the honors, Braun said: “I am deeply proud of these awards, which, to me, demonstrate that election security isn’t just a hacker thing. The 2018 elections are getting underway, and it’s critical we approach this issue as the national security concern it is. We must do all we can to protect the vote – and our democracy – from foreign enemies that want to sow discord and distrust.”

Beyond his work with DEFCON, Braun has partnered with institutions and organizations including the University of Chicago and the Atlantic Council to focus on forwarding of policies and best practices that will help election administrators better safeguard the vote from cyberattacks in 2018 and beyond. In October, Braun worked with the Atlantic Council to release an award-winning report about the DEFCON Voting Village’s findings. This report is still being used by U.S. national security leaders to inform new policies to secure the critical infrastructure of the U.S. election system.

###Cambridge Global Advisors is a strategic advisory services firm with deep expertise at the global, national, state and local levels. CGA assists clients in the management, development, and implementation of their programs, practices, and policies – with a special emphasis on homeland and cybersecurity. CGA works with government, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies to provide consulting and project management services as well as public diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and communications. To learn more, visit www.cambridgeglobal.com or follow on Twitter at @camb_global

November 3, 2017 (New York, NY) – This week, CEO of Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) Jake Braun was awarded the O’Reilly Defender Award for Research at the annual O’Reilly Security Conference in New York City. The award “celebrates those who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, and collaboration in the defensive security field.” It was given to Mr. Braun for his recent contributions in the “Voting Machine Hacker Village” at DEFCON and for increasing awareness around cyber threats and vulnerabilities in U.S. election and voting infrastructure.

The “Voting Village” was an innovative three-day demonstration (July 27-30, 2017) held in Las Vegas at DEFCON – the world’s largest, longest-running hacker conference – that assembled more than 25 pieces of election equipment including voting machines and pollbooks still widely used in U.S. elections today. The Voting Village made them accessible to 1000+ hackers who were encouraged to test the technology and expose cyber vulnerabilities for educational purposes. The event’s concept was born out of U.S. intelligence reports regarding Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 elections and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recent confirmation that voter registration databases in at least 21 states were breached last year.

Mr. Braun shared the O’Reilly Defender award with several other “Voting Village” colleagues including Matt Blaze (University of Pennsylvania), Joseph Lorenzo Hall (Center for Democracy & Technology), Harri Hursti (Nordic Innovation Labs), Margaret MacAlpline (Nordic Innovation Labs) and Jeff Moss (DEFCON). Last month, this six-person team released a report on the Voting Village findings. Together, the team has been elevating concerns around vulnerabilities in U.S. election equipment and networks and is currently working to assemble stakeholders critical to invoking policy change at the federal, state and local level ahead of nationwide elections in 2018.

Speaking of the award, Jake Braun said: “The Voting Village was about exposing the weaknesses in our voting systems and finding ways to educate others, especially in light of what we know about Russia’s attempts to hack the 2016 Presidential Election. I am immensely proud of this award, which serves as a recognition that voting security is more than just a cyber or hacker issue. Protecting the vote is indeed a national security imperative that requires our leaders band together to find solutions.”

In addition to his CEO role at CGA, Mr. Braun currently serves as a faculty member at the University of Chicago where he teaches cybersecurity policy. He is also a former White House and Public Liaison for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and remains an advisor to DHS and the Pentagon on cybersecurity issues.

Las Vegas, NV – In light of recent headlines concerning Russian attempts to “hack” and interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections, DEFCON – one of the world's largest and best-known hacker conventions – debuted an interactive "Voting Machine Hacker Village" today a its annual gathering in Las Vegas. The first of its kind in the conference's 25 year history, the Voting Village provided a national stage for hackers, voting experts, government officials and others to raise the alarm on cyber vulnerabilities and threats related to U.S. voting machines, networks, and voter file databases currently in use around the nation.

Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) – a strategic advisory services firm with deep expertise in cyber and homeland security policy at the global, national, state and local level – provided support to the Voting Village by way of concept development, media outreach, and stakeholder engagement. CGA also contributed to the day-long speaking program, with Jake Braun, CEO of CGA emceeing speeches and panels featuring subject matter experts from a variety of public and private sector organizations such as Verified Voting, the Center for Internet Security, National Governors Association, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

“Without question, our voting systems are weak and susceptible. Thanks to the contributions of the hacker community today, we've uncovered even more about exactly how,” said Jake Braun, who originally proposed the idea of the Voting Village to conference founder Jeff Moss earlier this year. “The scary thing is we also know that our foreign adversaries – including Russia, North Korea, Iran – possess the capabilities to hack them too, in the process undermining principles of democracy and threatening our national security.”

Douglas Lute, CGA principal and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, also spoke at the conference on Friday, noting the importance of bringing the national security community to the table. “Elections have always been the concern and constitutional responsibility of state and local officials. But when Russia decided to interlope in 2016, it upped the ante. This is now a grave national security concern that isn't going away,” said Lute via Skype. “In the words of former FBI Director James Comey, ‘They're coming after America...they will be back.’”

The Voting Village featured more than 30 pieces of equipment for hackers to try their hand at, along with a cyber training range that simulated an board of elections office network and voter registration database. Within the first 90 minutes, hackers successfully hacked several pieces of equipment, including a machine and pollbook. The village is expected to be a fixture for DEFCON for at least the next three years, with more equipment, software and other hacking demonstrations to be added in the future.

Voting Village organizers also said that DEFCON provided an initial forum to convene various stakeholders that will be critical to forwarding solutions as a next step. Post-DEFCON, Cambridge Global and others will work to align allies for a national advocacy campaign to implement election security measures in all fifty states. Details and a campaign launch date are expected in the coming weeks.

“The Voting Hacking Village was just the start. This is one conversation that needs to leave Vegas,” said Braun. “There are ways to secure our democracy, but we need an organized advocacy campaign. We need to take these lessons back to DC, to state capitals, and to local election boards around the country to invoke change.”

About CGA

Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) is a strategic advisory services firm with deep expertise and experience at the global, national, state and local level. Our mission is to assist our clients in the management, development, and implementation of their national security programs, practices, and policies, with a special interest in homeland and cyber security.

CGA’s senior leadership has been working on cybersecurity policy for some of the largest end users for governments, NGOs, and corporations for a combined 100+ years of experience. Through client work and numerous positions on advisory boards, the team has served as cyber consults for a host of entities from the President of the United States to local governments such as Cook County, Illinois. Learn more at: www.cambridgeglobal.com

May 4, 2017 (Washington, DC) – Today, Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) announced that Francis X. Taylor, former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will join CGA as a Principal and Senior Advisor, advising on a variety of government, NGO, corporate and non-profit client projects in the national security and global affairs space.

At DHS, from 2014-2017, Taylor oversaw and carried out the mission of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, equipping the Homeland Security Enterprise with the timely intelligence and information required to keep the homeland safe, secure, and resilient.

Before his DHS appointment, Taylor served as Vice President and Chief Security Officer for the General Electric Company (GE) and was responsible for GE's security operations and emergency management processes. Taylor also had a distinguished career in public and military service, including serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security and as the US Ambassador at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the Department of State from 2001-2002. During his 31-year military career, Taylor achieved the rank of Brigadier General and oversaw counterintelligence and security operations for the US Air Force.

Of the recent appointment, Jake Braun, CEO of Cambridge Global Advisors said: “A home for many other former leaders at the Department of Homeland security, Cambridge Global is proud welcome Frank Taylor to our team. He brings a depth of knowledge and demonstrated leadership managing security operations in the military, government and corporate arenas. We are pleased to be able to offer our clients the benefit of Frank Taylor’s high-level experience in the public and private sectors.”

February 14, 2017 (San Francisco, CA) – Today at the annual RSA Information Security Conference in San Francisco, Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) was proud to announce that the commercialization license for its Network Mapping System (NeMS) technology has been finalized.

Developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and licensed by LLNL to a CGA subsidiary, NeMS is a software-based tool that simplifies the network security process by automating several of the 20 Critical Security Controls (CIS Controls), a prioritized set of cyber practices created to stop the most pervasive and dangerous of cyberattacks as put forth by the Center for Internet Security. Specifically, NeMS will automate three of the top five CSC components and inform users what is connected to their network so that they know what needs to be protected.

“This is an important moment for NeMS, the final license coming on the heels of multiple prominent cyberattacks that have policymakers scrambling for solutions,” said Jake Braun, CEO of CGA. “Several leaders in the last year – including the Attorney General here in California –have pushed measures requiring businesses to implement the CIS Controls as a condition of operation. As a result, enterprise consumers are searching for products – like NeMS – that will help them comply with mandatory baseline security standards.”

The commercial licensing of NeMS was aided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology’s (S&T) Transition to Practice Program (TTP) which looks to transition federally-funded cybersecurity technologies from the laboratory to enterprise consumers. The program also seeks to create institutional relationships between the cyber research community, investors, end users, and information technology companies by showcasing the technologies throughout the country to develop pilot and commercialization opportunities.

Each year the TTP program selects eight promising cyber technologies to incorporate into its 36-month program. S&T introduces these technologies to end-users around the country with the goal of transitioning them to investors, developers or manufacturers that can advance them and turn them into commercially viable products.

“LLNL has a long history of successfully engaging with our industry partners to commercialize technologies that advance our national and economic security,” said Rich Rankin, the director of LLNL’s Industrial Partnerships Office. “Commercializing LLNL-developed technologies like NeMS enables the private sector to apply the Lab’s solutions to market needs beyond the U.S. government’s immediate interests – helping solve some of nation’s biggest, most complex challenges while driving economic growth.”

February 9, 2017 (Chicago, IL) – Yesterday, Cambridge Global Advisors (CGA) convened a timely discussion on cybersecurity and the U.S. democratic process. The event, hosted by and at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, focused on how cybersecurity and hacking impacted the 2016 election outcome. The full event is available for viewing online at: https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/event/hacked-democracy

Jake Braun, CEO at CGA, moderated the event and was joined by Cindy Cohn, Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation; Siobhan Gorman, Director, Brunswick Group; Robert K. Knake, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; and Sherri Ramsay, Senior Advisor to the CEO, CyberPoint International; Cybersecurity Consultant. Among various topics, this panel of experts addressed some of the key challenges currently facing both the government and private sectors as they fight cybersecurity breaches, privacy issues, and electorate concerns about the integrity of American elections.

The panel raised concrete things the Trump Administration, other governments, political groups and private sector interests can do to protect the nation, highlighting the need to balance national security concerns with civil liberties concerns within a democracy. One of the issues raised included whether or not technology is a threat to democracy. With democratic nations amassing enormous cyber-surveillance powers, it becomes increasingly difficult for democratic nations and societies to balance both transparency and security in the new digital age.

“There’s no doubt that cyber-meddling by foreign actors is now at the forefront of the discussion around technology, cybersecurity and democracy,” said Jake Braun who has advised both public and private sector interested on cyber assessments and network security matters. “But where it was elections in November, it can be our energy grid or water resources in the future. Bottom line: When an outsider can cause this much damage, it’s not just on our government to foster solutions, it’s on the private sector to get involved too.”